Ultimatum
Mural. 322 x 300 cm.
2025
Opening and reactivating abandoned spaces is important, but even more essential is providing the necessary tools to keep these places alive and in service to the communities they belong to. Ultimatum is a mural created in the context of School of Life, a residency project curated by Andrea Mineo supported by Farm Cultural Park, Promusic and the Aragona's Municipality, aimed at activating the gymnasium of an abandoned school in Aragona (Italy) and transforming it into a space for exchange, learning, and imagination.
The mural titled Ultimatum develops through levels of complexities. The top part offer a schematic illustrations of priorities, planning timelines, and critical areas of the building, along with visualized dynamics between artists, community, and context. From there, it transitions into a more abstract visual language open to interpretation inviting reflection on the self and individual perspectives.
"I’ve always found it troubling that graffiti are often painted in abandoned spaces, left to decay. This mural, however, aims to do the opposite, it seeks to offer a framework for the reactivation of the abandoned school in Aragona. Ultimatum is an anti-mural because it has an expiration date. It exists not to fill up empty space, but to initiate action. Often, work only gets done when deadlines are in place. This mural suggests one, offering direction and urgency rather than ambiguity."
Inspired by psychologist Kurt Lewin’s Field Theory, the mural reflects on how people often repeat unsuccessful attempts at growth. Field Theory suggests that this is due to forces within their environment, their "fields." A person’s life comprises multiple distinct spaces, and their goals are influenced by the forces pushing them forward or holding them back. The mural visualizes this concept: the dotted line represents the path one must travel to reach their goal, crossing through various spaces. While people may share the same goal, the path, or field, is different for everyone. Fields can shift, disappear, or emerge depending on life events.
The mural also functions practically, it includes a space for people to register and take responsibility for specific renovation tasks within the building. Ultimatum is a call to action, a tool, and a poetic map for collective reactivation.
